Riverside Church Pastor Amy Butler to Preach March 14

On March 14, Candler will welcome the Rev. Dr. Amy K. Butler, senior minister of the Riverside Church in New York City, one of the nation’s most influential congregations. Butler will be the guest preacher for a Service of Word and Table sponsored by the school’s Baptist Studies program. The worship service will take place at 11:05 a.m. in Cannon Chapel, and all are welcome. A live stream will be available here.

Butler made history in 2014 when she became the first woman elected senior minister of Riverside since the church’s founding in 1930. The brainchild of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and minister Harry Emerson Fosdick, Riverside has been known throughout its history as a strong proponent of activism and political debate. That tradition continues today through various social services, including confidential HIV testing and counseling, through advocacy for LGBTQ rights, the anti-torture campaign, prison and family ministry, and immigrants’ rights, and through the appearances of prominent speakers such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela, and Bill Clinton.

Before joining Riverside, Butler served 11 years as the first woman pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., the founding church of what is now the denomination called American Baptist Churches USA. She earned BA and MA degrees from Baylor University, a bachelor of divinity degree from the International Baptist Seminary in Switzerland and a doctor of ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Cannon Chapel is located on the campus of Emory University at 515 S. Kilgo Circle, Atlanta, GA 30322.